Where I live now - China

[vette]

Hi all,
I hadn't posted here for a while,
The reason is, is that I am not much in the UK any more, so really don't have any thing "interesting to post"
But any way, I thought I would give a short update on where I am now.
A few of the old guard know that I was in Houston, then Oslo for a year or two, then China, then South Korea, and now firmly back in China.
I live in Shandong Province, which is on the East side of China, and our city is called Weifang.
Not a big city by Chinese standards, but that's all in relation.
As an example, In Weifang there are 9,1 million peop's and far more than in London or New York.
Weifang is still just a 3rd tier city.
Any way, Weifang is very pretty, well, I think so, we have 3 rivers flowing through.
The main one is called Bailang River.
Our apartment (every one lives in apartments) is next to the side of the river.
I will shut up for a bit, and show some photos.
These were taken by a good friend of mine.
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If you just look past the second bridge, we call it "Rainbow bridge", then our apartment is just on the right.
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This is just at the corner of our road, which is Qingnian Lu and Shengli East Street
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This is the local supermarket, it is underground, as in you don't need windows when you are shopping, and above is a large glass roof, so you can see every one 2 floors below doing the shopping.
There is a big screen, which plays a free movie every evening during the summer.
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Just along the road (Shengli East Street) is Kite Square.
If you look half way up the photo, on the left side, you will see a dragon shaped roofed building.
This is the kite museum.
Opposite you can see on of the "Bank of China" which is the taller building.
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Heading further along Shengli East, we come to the 2nd of Weifang's "Peoples Park"
We don't go to this one much, as we have the 1st peoples park, right behind our apartment, which is amazingly beautiful and spotlessly clean.
As in all the paths are "mop and bucketed" every morning.
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Another view of the amusement park, called "Fuhau Park
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This is the closer view of amusement park, called "Fuhau Park"
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Again Fuhua park

Vette.

[muddle]

Looks awesome, sure love their colours.

[schrodingers-cat]

Spent a day in Guangzhou a few weeks back coming back from my latest visit to Vietnam. Dismal city full of dismal people. strange place, anti radiation suits in the hotel, rats in the restaurant £30 for 3 beers and a coffee that was when you eventually got served they seemed to leave westerners till the very last. Didn`t look anything like that

[vette]

Spent a day in Guangzhou a few weeks back coming back from my latest visit to Vietnam. Dismal city full of dismal people. strange place, anti radiation suits in the hotel, rats in the restaurant £30 for 3 beers and a coffee that was when you eventually got served they seemed to leave westerners till the very last. Didn`t look anything like that

.
Hi Schrodinger,
Sounds like you were ripped off good and proper
A 600ml bottle of beer is generally about 22 pence to 35 pence.
Even if you double it, , , , hell, lets even quadruple it, then I still can't see where you got £30 for 3 beers ?
You must have stuck out like a sore toe.
Any way, don't let that put you off.
As you only spent 1 day in Guangzhou, such a big city then i guess you didn't really have time to see any thing.
Better luck next time.
We quite enjoyed the place

vette

[J i m s t e r]

Can you get a good chinese, doe?


Or are you getting Red Cross parcels of Pot Noodle and Monster Munch?

[vette]

Can you get a good chinese, doe?


Or are you getting Red Cross parcels of Pot Noodle and Monster Munch?

.
What a strange post?

What on earth are you on about?


vette

[schrodingers-cat]

.
Hi Schrodinger,
Sounds like you were ripped off good and proper
A 600ml bottle of beer is generally about 22 pence to 35 pence.
Even if you double it, , , , hell, lets even quadruple it, then I still can't see where you got £30 for 3 beers ?
You must have stuck out like a sore toe.
Any way, don't let that put you off.
As you only spent 1 day in Guangzhou, such a big city then i guess you didn't really have time to see any thing.
Better luck next time.
We quite enjoyed the place

vette

It looked nice enough flying in but i only really seen the airport and the route to the hotel, it was the airport that had the extortionate prices, you paid what it said on the menu, no haggling. Its too big a country to judge on that experience, i wouldn`t write it off just on that but i`d avoid long stop overs at that airport its just a big damp smelling building with nothing to keep you entertained but its a very long flight i doubt anything would have been good. seats you can sleep in would have done me but they`re all designed to be as uncomfortable as possible

[legendgamesmaster]

ah... china.... fab place. one of my favourite countries.

only there for 6 weeks, doing touristy stuff as part of a world trip.
Hong Kong, Beijing, Xian, Chengdu, Kunming, Lijiang, Dali...

Fab people, fab place.

[slobodan]

I worked on the Walmart there a few years ago, I like China.

[leighh]

Hi all,
I hadn't posted here for a while,
The reason is, is that I am not much in the UK any more, so really don't have any thing "interesting to post"
But any way, I thought I would give a short update on where I am now.
A few of the old guard know that I was in Houston, then Oslo for a year or two, then China, then South Korea, and now firmly back in China.
I live in Shandong Province, which is on the East side of China, and our city is called Weifang.
Not a big city by Chinese standards, but that's all in relation.
As an example, In Weifang there are 9,1 million peop's and far more than in London or New York.
Weifang is still just a 3rd tier city.
Any way, Weifang is very pretty, well, I think so, we have 3 rivers flowing through.
The main one is called Bailang River.
Our apartment (every one lives in apartments) is next to the side of the river.
I will shut up for a bit, and show some photos.
These were taken by a good friend of mine.
.

If you just look past the second bridge, we call it "Rainbow bridge", then our apartment is just on the right.
.
.
.
.

This is just at the corner of our road, which is Qingnian Lu and Shengli East Street
.
.
.
.

This is the local supermarket, it is underground, as in you don't need windows when you are shopping, and above is a large glass roof, so you can see every one 2 floors below doing the shopping.
There is a big screen, which plays a free movie every evening during the summer.
.
.
.
.

Just along the road (Shengli East Street) is Kite Square.
If you look half way up the photo, on the left side, you will see a dragon shaped roofed building.
This is the kite museum.
Opposite you can see on of the "Bank of China" which is the taller building.
.
.
.
.

Heading further along Shengli East, we come to the 2nd of Weifang's "Peoples Park"
We don't go to this one much, as we have the 1st peoples park, right behind our apartment, which is amazingly beautiful and spotlessly clean.
As in all the paths are "mop and bucketed" every morning.
.
.
.
.

Another view of the amusement park, called "Fuhau Park
.
.
.
.

This is the closer view of amusement park, called "Fuhau Park"
.
.
.
.

Again Fuhua park

Vette.

They are some excellent photos, thanks for sharing them. Looks a like a very interesting place.

[J i m s t e r]

.
What a strange post?

What on earth are you on about?


vette

I was jokingly asking if you could obtain chinese food of acceptable quality there (English people I know in India have joked that curries are not as good), or were you longed for the taste of more traditionally English fayre, like Pot Noodle and Monster Munch, which I suspect may not be freely available in your neck of the woods.

You are welcome.

[vette]

I was jokingly asking if you could obtain chinese food of acceptable quality there (English people I know in India have joked that curries are not as good), or were you longed for the taste of more traditionally English fayre, like Pot Noodle and Monster Munch, which I suspect may not be freely available in your neck of the woods.

You are welcome.

.
Hi Jimster,
Now it makes sense, well sort of
Well it depends on where you are in China.
China is huge, some thing like 22 times the size of the UK.
Consider that in UK, there are dozens of different regional dialects, then this holds true, in a culinary way for China.
Food in North China, (Heilongjiang Prov.) is a world apart from food in South China, like Guangxi Prov. or over in the west where all (90%) the muslims are herded and camped. Xinjiang Prov.

I hope it hasn't put you off, and if your heading this way again,m then shout up, and perhaps a couple of boxes of bees can be shared.

I am in the east coast area, not to far from Yantai, Qingdao, where the famous German brewery is. Need I say any more !!

There is also the factory tour, and the free drink session after the tour.

vette

[J i m s t e r]

Vette,

box of Bees or beers? Both?

HK is the closest we've been to mainland China, loved it. Bit of a culture shock being Gwailo out there. It was very crowded, everywhere like a UK highstreet of a Sat afternoon, and because few of the street signs were in English it was difficult to get your bearings at first. But the food was incredible and the general sights sights are so different from what you'd see over here.

The bloke who distributed Tsingtao (amongst other stuff) in the UK dropped dead recently. Multi-millionaire but he was a bad alky. I guess he'd not seen "Scarface" - Never get high off your own supply! I noticed that they had started brewing it in the UK and it was weaker than we had when we were in Hong Kong or Thailand (same as Singha, it's 6.6 out there and something like 5.0 over here - muck.) Not that I am a tramp, or big drinker anymore (only drink of a weekend) but that stuff is missing some magic at the weaker blend.

Thanks for the pics - but... Where are the Surfs/Surf copies?

[angloabroad]

if ya dont mind me asking mate, how did you come about to live in china? and can ya buy a log cabin in the woods there for next to nowt?

[vette]

if ya dont mind me asking mate, how did you come about to live in china? and can ya buy a log cabin in the woods there for next to nowt?

.
Hi angloabroard,
Quite simples really,
I was originally asked by my company, to head off to South Korea, I was looking forward, as I had heard every thing good about South Korea.
Then about a week before depart UK, I get a phone call to say "all is changed, go and get a Chinese visa ASAP", as in , you don't need a visa for South Korea, but no entry into China without one.
I felt absolutely gutted, I was so looking forward to South Korea, having heard all the good things about it!.
Any way, I get the Chinese visa, and arrive in Nantong, just the north side of the river from Shanghai, Yangtze (Hangpu).
Well I didn't like Nantong, partly because I had built up this "want" to go to South Korea.
Any way, I was there for about a month, then my company asked (told) my work colleague and I to go to Yantai.
So off we fly, and arrive Yantai.
What a completely different place from Nantong.
Even first impressions, where, "wow, this place is nice"
So this is when I decided, that I do quite like it here. Yeah, not bad at all.
I spent almost a year in Yantai working, and making many Chinese friends.
Then I got a call, to head to South Korea, except, that, now, I didn't really want to go there any more, I was more than happy to stay in Yantai, but one has to do what the company says.
Well, I had to fly over to South Korea, to a place called Okpo.
Which was worse than Nantong. I didn't like it from the start, the people were not friendly, and the place was dull, grey, and uninviting, cold, rainy, , ,
I wont comment on the food, as it's too early in the morning ! but after a year of proper Chinese food, you can guess what the South Korean food was like.
When ever I had more than 2 days off, I would fly back to Yantai, as it was just an hour flight, and a bus ride.
So I could meet up with some good friends, down the beers, meals to fill up on, and enjoy the Chinese hospitality.
I was in South Korea for about a year, but made loads of trips to China during that time.
Then when I was in China, I met my new girlfriend, then after 3 years together, we got married here in China. Now we have our "Red Chinese marriage books, one each"
Each book has our picture in it, with our details.
So now I live in China.
Simples !

As tourists, you won't see the real China, you won't feel what China is about, you can't possible know what China is really about in a short visit.
Sure, you will see the touristy sights, but that is such a small part of the real China, but mixing with Chinese, you understand more their culture.
Some people like China, some people can't stand the place, but generally, I thing most people are surprised, and come away thinking "WOW" I never knew China was like that.

As for buying accommodation, well China is ridiculously expensive, believe it or not. It is eye watering the price of apartments, in general "day to day " cities.
If your after buying an apartment in Beijing, Shanghai, then you want double what the cost is in London, such is the prices.

In Weifang down town, where we live, a 2 bedroom apartment will cost minimum of £100,000 and that's cheap.

Move out to the fields, more in the wild, and the prices drop as you would expect. A small 1 bedroom, ground house, could cost you £20,000.
However, it would be miles from any shops or any thing.

So,,,who is planning a trip over to see China in the 2012 or 2013?

vette